Tale as Old as Time
by J'ai besoin d'un biscuit
Summary: It had been three weeks since they had found little Annabeth in that alley, and she had already saved their lives twice. Needless to say, Thalia was impressed. Rated T because Thalia cusses.
1. Chapter 1

So my favortie scene in TLO was the one with little Annabeth almost bashing in Luke's head with a hammer. -Wipes tear from eye- So cute.

Now, I'm sure this will come as a huge surprise to everyone, but I don't own the Percy Jackson characters or Disney. I know, it's shocking. Didn't see that coming, did ya?

* * *

It had been three weeks since they had found little Annabeth in that alley, and she had already saved their lives twice. Once she kept them from walking into a trap set by some very hungry cannibal giants, and the other time she had jumped on a hellhound's back, stabbing it in the neck until it disintegrated. It was just a puppy, but it was still the size of a Buick with inch-long fangs.

Needless to say, Thalia was impressed.

She had a pretty good idea who Annabeth's mother was. She was too good of a fighter to be Aphrodite or Demeter's daughter and too powerful to be the daughter of a minor goddess. Her intelligence and bravery said a lot too; not every seven year old would punch a fourteen year old boy on the arm for calling her Bethy. Well, a lot of seven year olds might do that, but not many would also yell, "Don't you dare patronize me!" while they did.

So when Annabeth asked her one night, "Who do you think my mother is?" Thalia should have been able to give her a straight answer. But she and Luke had agreed that it was probably best if Annabeth either figured it out herself or found out when her mother finally claimed her. Knowing who your parent was didn't make it any easier to accept that they ignored you; actually it just made it worse. When you knew who your parent was you had someone specific to blame.

Of course Annabeth had decided to have this conversation while Luke was out getting them some food. The son of Hermes would have known exactly how to avoid the question without seeming to. The little schemer probably planned this, Thalia thought exasperatedly, knowing she was going to have to say something.

"Well, who do you think she might be?" she replied, trying not to be too obvious as she dodged the question.

Annabeth just leveled an unimpressed look at her, like, That's the best you could come up with? Little smart ass.

"I'm not sure who she is, but I hope she's Athena," Annabeth answered, watching Thalia's face closely. The daughter of Zeus tried very hard to keep a straight face. "As long as she isn't Aphrodite, I'll be happy."

"Why don't you want to be Aphrodite's daughter?" Thalia seized the subject change eagerly.

"You mean why don't I want my mom to be the goddess of love? Ew! Boys have cooties!"

Thalia couldn't believe that someone this smart had actually just admitted that she believed in cooties. "Luke's a boy," she pointed out, not being able to hide a chuckle.

"Luke doesn't count," Annabeth said, like it was obvious. "He's not _really _a boy. Boys don't worry that much about their hair."

Thalia was still laughing when Luke got back thirty minutes later.

* * *

It was a cold, rainy night when they first realized that Annabeth was sick. They had all been sniffling and coughing a little, but as they listened to the little girl give another wracking cough, Luke and Thalia knew that this was more serious. Luke had picked the little girl up, carrying her the rest of the way to their nearest hideout. After he set her down on a cot, he turned to Thalia.

"What are we going to do?" he asked, running a hand through his wet blond hair. "What if she needs to see a doctor?"

"She'll be fine," Thalia said determinedly, taking charge of the situation. "We just need to make sure she gets plenty of rest and stays warm. Do you think you could get her some medicine? Like some Tylenol and NyQuil?"

"By 'get' I assume you mean 'steal'."

"Well unless you have a better idea…"

"No, no I'll go." Luke was already heading out the door. "I just wish that I wasn't the only one who was good at shoplifting…"

As he went back out into the rain, Thalia decided that they needed to have another little chat about not teaching Annabeth how to shoplift or pick pockets (picking locks was okay; that skill could come in very handy for a demigod). But for now, she went to go check on Annabeth, tucking the blankets around her as she felt her forehead.

"Thalia," the little girl whined. "My throat feels funny."

"I'm sorry. Your forehead doesn't feel too warm, so I think you may just have a cold."

Annabeth was hit with another fit of coughing, and turned to give Thalia a pitiful look.

"When I was sick at ho… With my dad," she said. "I always used to watch Disney movies."

"Which one was your favorite?" Thalia thought the girl would probably feel better if she focused on something other than being sick.

"I didn't like _Sleeping Beauty_ very much. She didn't do anything but prick her finger and pass out. And _The Little Mermaid_ was stupid. My favorite was _Beauty and the Beast_."

"Why that one?"

"Belle was pretty _and_ smart, and even though all the other girls were like, 'Ooh, Gaston is so good-looking,' Belle saw right through him." Annabeth said with a sniff. "And people made fun of her for reading too much."

"You're an interesting kid, you know that? But I always liked that one, too" Thalia asked, ruffling her blond hair fondly.

"Thalia, could you… Could you sing me one of the songs? From _Beauty and the Beast_?"

Thalia's response would normally have been along the lines of "Hell no", but it was Annabeth asking. Sweet little Annabeth, who couldn't even say the word "home" because of all the bad memories. And who was giving her the most pathetic, pleading look she had ever seen. It was those big grey eyes that did it.

"Fine," she finally relented. "But I am never singing again, got it?"

Annabeth nodded eagerly as Thalia started to sing "Be Our Guest". She ended up singing all the songs she could remember from the movie, until finally Annabeth drifted off to sleep. The daughter of Zeus gave a sigh of relief, only to hear a snicker coming from behind her. She turned so fast she got a crick in her neck and discovered Luke, almost doubled over as he tried to keep a straight face.

"Gee, Thalia, I'm really glad I caught the end of your performance," he finally managed to choke out. "Now I know why you never sing in the shower."

She was seriously considering electrocuting him to ashes, but instead, for some reason, she found herself laughing, too. It was actually pretty silly; here was this forbidding, angry, punk girl singing about dancing silverware.

Luke started pulling stuff out of his pockets: every kind of cold medicine available, Annabeth's favorite candy, Annabeth's favorite chips, and Annabeth's favorite energy drink. He just shrugged as Thalia raised an eyebrow at him.

It's amazing how much we're willing to do for this girl, Thalia thought to herself. What she's willing to do for us.

All she knew was that for the first time, they all had a family. And families were willing to do anything for each other, whether that was stabbing monsters or singing Disney songs.

* * *

So no real plot, just fluff and humor (as per usual). I would love it if you reviewed and checked out some of my other stuff. Also, I have a poll about who Leo should end up with in the one-shot I'm going to write about him, and so far it's 100% for Reyna. Isn't there anyone who wants me to write a Leoper story? Or Lazel?


	2. Chapter 2

I don't own these characters, just the lack of plot, sappiness, and fluff. I am ashamed to admit, I actually got kind of sad writing this. Poor Thuke. Also, thank you to Socks-With-Stripes for the lovely review!

* * *

Thalia had always been a confident person, doing and saying what she wanted and electrocuting anyone who had a problem with that. So this feeling of being at a loss for words was entirely new and unwelcome.

They had just left Luke's house…well, his mother's house…and Thalia couldn't remember ever having felt more uncomfortable in her life. She had always assumed that Luke's mother was like hers, bitter and unloving; she had never thought that he could have any other reason for disliking his parent's company so much. She couldn't even imagine what it must have been like, growing up with a mentally unbalanced woman whose eyes glowed green. It had been painful to watch Luke relive the old memories, and the fact that May Castellan obviously still loved her son so much made it even harder to watch. But they hadn't had a choice; Thalia had hurt her leg and she couldn't go much further without medical attention. They were just going to stop in for a few minutes, so they could rest and Thalia could deal with her stupid injury.

Then Hermes had showed up.

Thalia didn't know what the god had said and she wasn't going to ask, but judging by the murderous expression on Luke's face and the way he was kicking everything unfortunate enough to cross his path it couldn't have been good. Thalia turned behind her to glance at Annabeth, who seemed at just as much of a loss as she was. The little girl was staring at her hero with wide eyes, obviously wishing she could say something to comfort him but not knowing what. Great. What was the point of having a daughter of Athena around if they don't offer good advice? Oh, right, Annabeth was seven.

Thalia looked at Luke again, debating what she should say, or if she should maybe just be quiet. She knew him better than anyone, which meant that she knew he hated pity above all else. If she said anything that sounded remotely sympathetic at the moment, he would probably lash out. And when Luke lashed out, things tended to get broken. And in this case it would probably be her neck.

After a few more minutes hesitation, during which Luke started muttering to himself, she finally screwed up her courage. She was Thalia, daughter of Zeus, who didn't take anything from anyone. She was going to take charge of this situation. She looked down the path and found a log blocking their way up ahead.

"Hey, Annabeth, why don't you run ahead and see if there's a way around that log?" When Annabeth gave her a strange look, she narrowed her eyes slightly in Luke's direction. Thank the gods Annabeth understood and scampered off, but not before giving Luke one last worried look.

They were silent until the little girl was out of earshot.

"I don't want to talk about it, Thalia. I…"

She cut him off before he could work himself into a fury. "I know you don't want to talk. Right now, I want you to listen." He glared at her, but she glared right back.

"I… We, that is, Annabeth and I, care about you Luke. We're a family now, the three of us. That means we stick together no matter what, and we take care of each other. Now I know that sucked, going back to your mother's house, and I don't know what your idiot father said, but whatever it was, it's… it's not worth it, ok? No matter what happened in the past or what your father said will happen in the future, we will always be there for you."

Luke had the strangest look in his eyes, almost like hatred, and Thalia had to resist the urge to draw her spear. She kept waiting for him to yell at her, to say something about how she didn't understand, how she didn't know anything about him, but he just kept looking at her in that odd way.

Finally, still not saying a word, Luke reached his arms out. For a moment Thalia thought he was going to try to put her in a headlock, but then she realized he wanted a hug.

This was new territory. She tended to only touch people when she was sending a shockwave through them, and the only time she had ever seen Luke be affectionate was when he gave Annabeth piggy back rides. She gaped at him for a split second, but then stepped into his arms with good grace. He buried his head in her shoulder, and a part of her couldn't help but think how nice this was.

"I will always be there for you, Luke, no matter what. I promise."

"Always," he repeated, and she had never heard his voice so full of emotion.

The moment was ruined when Annabeth ran back and screamed "I wanna hug!" They broke apart and laughed a little awkwardly. As Luke and Annabeth forged ahead, planning the last leg of their journey before they were supposed to meet up with their guide to camp, Thalia couldn't keep her mind from dwelling on her promise. She knew that whatever it took, she would make sure to keep it.

Always.


End file.
